Outside Opinion: Economic growth must be more inclusive

We asked six leaders to identify the Chicago area's biggest challenge in 2014 and a solution. Here is one of their answers:

Chicago is experiencing the best of times and the worst of times.

We are successfully transitioning to the knowledge economy as a global center for business services and headquarters with a growing base of advanced industries and burgeoning entrepreneurial activity. But we have poverty and unemployment rates one-third higher than the national average, failing public schools and an appalling murder rate.

The economy is splitting in two. We have higher-than-average concentrations of both high- and low-skilled labor. Housing starts and prices are booming in River North, while foreclosures plague Englewood.

The great paradox of the knowledge economy is that the drivers of economic growth exacerbate inequality. Returns to capital are increasing more than returns to labor — think robots replacing routine jobs at all levels — and the opportunity gap is widening.

Sustainable growth requires deploying as many of our assets as possible — including the people and places currently left out — to improve the efficiency of the economy, increase demand for products and services, and avoid the high costs of poverty.

•Our high-growth industries — information technology, biomedical, finance — need new workers at all skill levels. Fully half of all technology jobs do not require a college degree. Companies don't just need computer science Ph.D.s, they need mechanics for computerized production machinery. Hospitals don't just need M.D.s, they need CT scan machine operators. Programs like Year Up and Skills for Chicagoland's Future, which provide internships and train adults, are helping.

•Chicagoland's food processing and packaging companies are talking about collaborating — as is happening in Milwaukee — to jointly train workers. The food industry also offers low-entry-cost opportunities for small businesses. For example, precut and bagged lettuce is popular now — an entrepreneur could build a business on that.

•Initiatives need to reflect our changing demographics, and particularly engage minorities in the growth sectors. In Cleveland, nonprofits JumpStart and Nortech are focusing their model entrepreneurship programs on supporting minority participation in the biotech industry.

Abundant research confirms that economic growth and equality are not a trade-off. Inclusiveness is a business and economic imperative. In this age of wisdom, it would be foolish to attempt a path to growth that leaves so many in darkness and despair.